Alo Restaurant | Michelin Star
We recently visited Alo restaurant, a Michelin-starred establishment celebrated for its exceptional dining experience. Located at 163 Spadina Ave., Alo is situated on the third floor, offering a decent view of the city (or construction). This fine dining restaurant specializes in contemporary French cuisine with a modern twist, artfully crafted by Chef Patrick Kriss, one of Canada’s most acclaimed chefs.
Alo offers a tasting menu that changes seasonally, showcasing unique ingredients and culinary techniques. The ambiance is elegant and intimate, with a focus on delivering an unforgettable dining experience. The restaurant has an open kitchen where guests can observe preparation of the variety of dishes, adding to the overall experience. Our reservation was in their standard dining room where we got the full dining experience.
Alo reservations do need to be booked online well in advance. They open up reservations 2 months ahead. If you’re looking for the ideal reservation around 6:30pm dinner time and choice of the dining room you can find these reservations more than 3 weeks ahead. I was looking for a table only 2 weeks ahead so the only dining room tables available were at 5pm and 8:30pm. We opted for the latter.
We came here for as birthday treat for Megan. A friend of ours wanted to join our celebration and I was able to call in and have our party size changed to three. This did push back our reservation to 9:15pm. The whole dining experience takes about 3 hours so we did end up having a very late dinner and were having dessert at midnight but it was a great place to do so at.
Read to the end for our review!
Their specialty tasting menu included (images with descriptions below):
Amuse-bouche
Canapes - Foie Gras / Tuna / Mackerel
Hors D’oeuvres - Hokkaido Scallop/ Medai / Dungeness Crab
East Coast Lobster - Coconut, Cauliflower Mushroom, Peanut
Morel Mushroom & French White Asparagus - Basil, Oxidized Wine, Foie Gras
Dashi & Koshihikari Rice - Perigord Black Truffle, Shiitake Mushroom, Nori
Turbot - Potato, Bouillabaisse, Mussels
Provini Veal Tenderloin - Asparagus, Sweetbread, Bernaise jus, Fava bean
Japanese Musk Melon
Ontario Strawberry Cake
Petit Fours
Megan’s Rating:
Service - 10/10
The experience was so unique. Very grateful I was able to try this restaurant (thank you Nhi!). Service was impeccable and thoughtfully executed throughout our visit. I didn’t enjoy my first drink and one of the waiters kindly offered to switch it out for another.
Food - 6/10
My favourite part of the meal was the dessert; every dessert was a perfect 10/10 but my favourite would be the Japanese Musk Melon. I have to admit that my palate isn't particularly attuned to French cuisine which is why my overall rating of the food is is a 6/10. I discovered that I do not like foie grois. If I had to choose a dish that wasn’t dessert, I would pick the Dashi & Koshihikari Rice.
Nhi’s Rating:
Service - 10/10
From the moment we entered to when we left the staff were super attentive to us. I stood up to go to the bathroom (which they walked me to) and my napkin was picked up and refolded for me in two seconds. I made a small spill and shortly after they came to cover my spot with a white napkin. One of the staff also noticed we took a picture with flash in front of the mirror and it would likely would turn out unclear (I use a film camera) so he offered to retake another one from a different angle for us.
The presentation of all the dishes to the table was also very in sync and the courses were well described. The clean up and set up between dishes was seamless. I felt like i was in a simulation.
All these little things in addition to how kind and friendly the staff were made the experience here amazing.
Food - 7/10
I may have a biased palate towards Asian cuisine and don’t have much experience with French cuisine. But to my surprise, there were many Asian inspired courses in this tasting. Some I enjoyed, and others I didn’t find too special. The flavours of each element in the dish really stood out, but some of them didn’t mix quite right for me. I did really enjoy the Dungeness Crab Chawanmushi (egg custard), and the Dashi & Koshihikari Rice course. All the dishes were still good, but I wasn’t amazed by many.
The presentation on the other hand, really amazed me. Each dish was presented very uniquely. I loved the creativity of making savoury dishes look like little desserts.
The real desserts were even better and also my favourite part. The melon shaved ice with the foam on top was probably one of the most refreshing things I have ever tasted. The strawberry cake, petit fours, and caneles were also lovely. Even the complimentary birthday chocolate mousse cake was delicious.
The entirety of the menu was filling for us. We lost track of how many courses had gone by but by the last main course we already felt full. But of course, theres always room for dessert! We went home with filled tummys!
P.S. If you don’t want to drink alcohol, I recommend the sparkling jasmine tea. We all loved it.
How to get here
Parking
Paid street parking available on Spadina
TTC
510 Spadina-Union streetcar
501 Queen Streetcar/Shuttle bus
Visited June 25, 2024
